Rougerie backs ref on late call-off

FRANCE centre Aurelien Rougerie believes referee Dave Pearson was right to postpone Saturday night’s Six Nations clash with Ireland.

The Clermont Auvergne star backed Pearson’s decision to make player safety the priority, even if it was a very late call by the English official. Rougerie said: “We were ready to go – everyone wanted to play, everyone was ready to play, nobody thought we might not be going out onto the pitch. Maybe it made sense to cancel it at that point, before it started. It would be wrong to take the risk of playing just until half time and they would cancel the match then – as happened with one of the women’s games last week (Ireland’s clash with Wales).”

Rougerie spoke of the confusion that surrounded the build-up to the game that never was but accepted players had no choice but to accept the final decision to postpone.